Raped, tortured and forced to live in a wardrobe by her Family for FIVE YEARS

Raped, tortured and forced to live in a wardrobe by her Family for FIVE YEARS

Blogger John Hugh Morgan would argue that this woman in this story is “married” to her family member, because her family member had sex with her (raped her) when she was three years old.

Yes he would, say this ((Link): my rebuttal to his post).

On his blog, see (Link): this post or (Link): this one (where he mentions people taking each other for a test drive, which I already discussed on my blog (Link): here – seriously, since this dude claims that me or my blog is not trustworthy, he needs to stop cribbing material from it, or at least give credit if or when he uses ideas from here).

Many conservative Christians like to go on and on about how “family is THE building block of society,” which I say is a load of bunk.

The Bible doesn’t say anything about salvation coming by being in a nuclear family. You need Jesus for salvation. The Bible also does not talk about saving a culture by supporting the nuclear family. I have other posts on this blog that discuss this topic in depth, so I won’t get into it now.

This woman was abused in childhood by her family and only found freedom and peace when she LEFT her family:

(Link):  Raped, tortured and forced to live in a wardrobe for FIVE YEARS: Horrifying ordeal of the starving girl rescued from monster family… and how she’s rebuilt her life at 21

• Lauren Kavanaugh lived in a 4ft by 9ft closet from three to eight years old
• She was only brought out by her mother and stepfather to be tortured
• She was rescued aged eight after a neighbour contacted the police
• Lauren, now 21, is studying psychology wants to qualify as a counsellor
• By CAROLINE MCGUIRE FOR MAILONLINE

• A woman whose mother and stepfather tortured her, forced her to live in a wardrobe for five years and allegedly raped her nightly has spoken of her joy at finally being able to move on with her life.

  Lauren Kavanaugh, now 21 and living in Athens, Texas, lived in a 4ft by 9ft closet from the ages of three until eight, held there by her mother Barbara Atkinson and stepfather Kenny Atkinson.

  The evil couple called Lauren their ‘little secret’ – only bringing her out to torture and allegedly her – but were caught when they showed her off to a horrified neighbour who alerted police.

  When Lauren was pulled from the tiny cupboard at her mother’s home in Dallas, Texas, in 2001, she was eight but weighed 25.6 pounds (1st 8lbs), the same as the average two-year-old and was potbellied with malnutrition.

  She was rushed to surgery where she was fitted with a colostomy bag, but her organs were shutting down.

  During her stay in hospital, doctors had to use a feeding method devised for Holocaust victims because her body was so starved.

• Investigators said she also suffered years of sexual abuse – leaving her tiny body so badly damaged that she needed a series of reconstructive surgeries – but because it would be too traumatic for the then-eight-year-old to testify, Barbara and Kenny Atkinson were never convicted of rape.

• Fortunately, she recovered from the traumatic time and now she is a student who supports other victims of abuse.

  Barbara and Kenny were convicted of felony injury to a child in 2002 and jailed for life, not eligible for parole until 2031.

• Recounting her ordeal, Lauren said: ‘One day mum was so sick of me sobbing that she grabbed my arm and told me, ‘get into the closet.’

  ‘I was huddled in there for hours under a rail of dresses and shirts. I thought it was a punishment.

  ‘There was no water or food, just darkness.’

  Sometime later, she recalled being pulled out and raped. She was only three.

  She continued: ‘They put country music on blaring to hide my screams.

  ‘After hours of abuse, I was bundled back into the closet, confused and in agony.

  ‘From then on, it became my new home.

  ‘I couldn’t do anything in the darkness. I slept in there and had to use it for the bathroom.

  ‘The carpet was drenched in urine and I lay under a thin, wet blanket.’

• Lauren was also tortured and burnt with cigarettes.

  She said: ‘I was weak from hunger and was tied down so I couldn’t fight back.

  ‘I had to eat anything I could find in the closet and I was only let out for torture.

  ‘One day, mum ran me a bath and pushed my head under water.

  ‘Another time when I was six, mum put a bowl of macaroni cheese in front of me – she told me I could chew it but then had to spit it out.’

  Although Lauren was constantly abused, her brothers and sisters were left alone.

• …

  The couple fought to keep the child, but during the adoption process, their lawyer had mistakenly never filed the paperwork to terminate Barbara’s parental rights.

  The mistake meant the Kavanaughs lost the custody battle on a technicality, and had to send the little girl back to her mother when she was two years old.

  Over the next six years, Lauren was subjected to horrific abuse by her mother and stepfather until she was finally rescued.

  After being found by the police in 2001,  Lauren was re-adopted by Sabrina and Bill.

  But despite finding a loving family to take care of her, her early trauma had a lasting impact and she would hide food for later, worried it would vanish.

  She also did not know how to play with toys, had the mental age of someone much younger and would try and sleep in her wardrobe every night.

  She said: ‘The first time I saw grass I was eight and I thought it was biting my feet and when I had baths I would yell, “don’t drown me.”‘

  She has regularly endured fits of rage, fights at school, self-harming suicide attempts, and seizures when her body sought to block out the painful memories, particularly of the rapes.

  But she said a fight at school was a turning point because she was put in an alternative school and residential therapy, where she met other abuse survivors and learned she was not alone.

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Related posts: 

(Link): Family as “The” Backbone of Society? – It’s Not In The Bible

(Link): Do Married Couples Slight Their Family Members as Well as Their Friends? / “Greedy Marriages”

(Link): How Can Conservatives and Christians Keep Teaching Family is Backbone of Society when there are so many dysfunctional or abusive familes

(Link): Misuse of Terms Such As “Traditional Families” by Christians – Re: Kirk Cameron, Homosexual Marriage, and the 2014 Grammys

(Link): The Term “Family Values” And Its Use By Christians – Vis A Vis story: Grandma Gives Teen Granddaughter a Vibrator

(Link):  Married Father Wants Frequent Breaks From Being Married Father – (If Family is Backbone of Society As Christians Teach….)